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There’s a lunatic in Asia credibly threatening the world with a hydrogen bomb. Congress can’t pull itself together to do anything. But enough of that. We’re all obsessed now with what a few tubby athletes think about the flag, the national anthem and the country others have shed blood and lives to defend and protect.

It is a fair bet that Sen. Bernie Sanders (and most of his followers), unlike tens of millions of others, never read George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” or Friedrich von Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom.” Why do so many embrace a system — socialism — that has always failed, whether it was a form of state socialism or the various utopian communities started in the United States and Europe over the last couple of hundred years?

If NFL players have a right to on-field free expressions of speech, then that means pro-life players can take a knee during the playing of the national anthem to show solidarity with all the babies who could have been, save for America’s legal rubber-stamp of abortion.

How soon they forget. Heartened by a stream of poll data suggesting that the public is less than enamored with his performance as president, Donald Trump’s critics who’ve been taken in by polls before seem to think they have the man on the ropes.

Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have performed a vital public service in making their documentary “The Vietnam War” for the Public Broadcasting Service. Given the division that war caused in America, it is a pretty fair chronicling of the way things were a half-century ago. The film brought back a lot of mostly bad memories to people of my generation.

In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, many members of the media and the political left have been quick to pin the blame for these storms on climate change. While there is no question that the hurricanes have wreaked havoc across many communities, including in my home state of Texas, these severe storms are not indicative of a climate trend — despite what the clickbait masters would have us believe.

The Federal Reserve has been absolutely flummoxed that inflation has stayed so low for so long. Gasoline prices and headline inflation may be getting a temporary jolt from Harvey, but core inflation — consumer prices less energy and food costs — remains well below the Fed’s official target of 2 percent.

Last year’s election signaled a change in American politics equal to that of the 1960s. The channel for this change was the medium — or rather, media — through which politics now flows. This change in media has brought an evolution in America’s method of communication, and transformed politics as well. The nation can extol it or lament it, but cannot escape it.

As a businessman, a builder and a real estate tycoon in the most fiercely competitive real estate market on the planet, President Trump has spent his entire life exercising his own considerable self-interest. He built a huge and admirable fortune trying to make a buck for himself.

Two remarkable things unfolded last week. The Democrats openly embraced socialism in the form of single-payer health care. And they announced a secular, anti-Christian test for public office. The two go together like Abbott and Costello. Or better yet, since this is far from funny, Marx and Lenin.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s authority to use lethal force is usually discussed only in the quietest corners of the intelligence community. These authorities are usually implemented pursuant to carefully-prescribed top-secret “presidential determinations” that authorize specific actions.

Let America Vote founder Jason Kander is a smirking menace. The former Missouri secretary of state wants to come to New Hampshire, cast aspersions on our elections, and use his wokeness as a springboard to bigger things.

Ryan Zinke, secretary of the Interior Department, said that almost a third of his agency's employees aren't exactly President Donald Trump supporters -- or fans of the American flag, for that matter. Holy cow. Why are they still there? Talk about a deep state.

Gee, what a surprise, this headline from The Washington Post: "Senate GOP effort to unwind the ACA collapses Monday." At this point, Americans are starting to catch on -- Republicans aren't actually going to repeal Obamacare. Never.

Few things are more changeable than the past: Each new generation of revisionist historians and social activists reinterprets -- and, sometimes, shamelessly distorts -- it. The result is an ever-changing mythology and, in the case of the United States, a constantly morphing "American Dream" subjected to endless re-analysis.

Sometimes, the third time's the charm. At other times, it's three strikes and you're out. President Trump is testing those bits of ancient wisdom by implementing restrictions on travel to the United States from violence-prone nations. Though the nation has been free from recent terror attacks, for which we all give thanks, common sense dictates sober efforts to screen out evildoers before they reach these shores.

Thank God we all do not share the same beliefs; I believe our diversity of thought is exactly what our Founding Fathers intended. What I am not thankful for, however, is the ignorance which is bountiful in our great nation ("Trump's call for boycott of NFL reignites furor over players' national anthem protests," Web, Sept. 24). Our flag does not represent only our president. It represents much, much more. It represents you and me and all presidents past and future. It represents the men who died defending our freedom. It represents our children, nieces and nephews who were born into a nation with liberties unparalleled by any country.

Readin', writin' and 'rithmetic have been the traditional elements of a fundamental education. Recently, if the front pages of the newspapers are an accurate reflection of the menu on many campuses, rant and rage have been added to the three r's to make five. It's clear that elemental civics should be added as well.